Over 1.6 million passengers contribute to 25% spike in winter traffic

• 1,662,659 passengers welcomed by MIA during winter period• Traffic grows by remarkable 25% between November and March• Upcoming launches include new routes Bordeaux & Skopje, and new airlines Eurowings & Condor

Malta International Airport welcomed over 1.6 million passengers during its winter period, extending from November to March. This figure translates into an upturn of 25% in traffic, which growth was reached on the back of an increase of 19% in aircraft movements and an improvement of 26% in seat capacity.

Malta International Airport CEO, Alan Borg expressed his satisfaction with the winter performance and went on to say; “We have now launched our summer schedule and kicked off a Cruise and Fly programme, which are expected to give rise to even more passenger traffic and busier days. We will be focusing mostly on providing each one of our guests with the best airport experience possible, in spite of ongoing works in all four corners of the terminal. In the meantime, our traffic development team is already looking ahead to next winter and making every effort to ensure that it is as successful as the one just ended, in line with our commitment to secure further year-round, sustainable growth.”

The top five contributors of traffic at Malta International Airport during winter were the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France. All of these markets reached varying levels of growth over last year following developments such as the introduction of new routes to Catania, Germany, and France and increased flight frequencies on existing routes.

The season was closed off with March registering an increase of 53,795 passenger movements over 2016, even though the Easter effect was registered in March last year. Last month also marked the launch of two new routes – Katowice in Poland and Cluj-Napoca in Romania, with more new connections expected to commence operations in the coming weeks.

Malta International Airport is anticipating very busy days ahead and passengers are being advised to check in at least two hours before their scheduled departure time. To get a clearer understanding of the busiest times at the terminal and plan your upcoming journey better, please visit www.maltairport.com/notifications/early-check-in-advised.